Some Thoughts on Cosmic Horror Campaigns

My Outer Presence adventure is coming along nicely. I'm calling the campaign world Mothership Earth. This should give you some idea of the flavor.

The adventure is told in three chapters. The first, called "The City of Sound," takes place in New York City, early in the year 1971. It's a city of tension and contrast. Racial and economic division are seared into the skyline. Sleaze and scandal ran rampant. The Bowery was Skid Row. The subway was a decrepit, malfunctioning hellhole. The City was going bankrupt. The first OTB parlor opens, soon the sidewalks are littered with losing bets. Disco and it's polar opposite, punk, had yet to break, but they were coming on fast.

I'm folding in the atmosphere of NYC during the period, and the global situation as well. There are big events occurring, but in the tradition of Lovecraftian horror, much of these doings are veiled in mystery. To the sensitive they are merely unexplained coincidences, nearly all going totally unnoticed by the oblivious masses. The players will slowly gather clues to the true scope of the danger, and (hopefully) act before it is too late.

The scenario is pretty heavily scripted at points, this is not a sandbox game. I feel structure is vital to the horror genera. So many great movies would be ruined if the protagonists simply stuck together, or left the woods, or didn't go down to the basement. This is what my old roommate Dr. W., an ex-Lit. professor, calls the "Trapped in the Scary House" effect. The tension and dread come precisely from the limited number of options available. In the horror movie scenario, characters confront situations with no good choices. All paths are uncertain and lead to potential doom. The only thing you can do is shout at the screen and await the inevitable.

However, that's not to say the die is cast (so to speak, ha). There is a lot of opportunity for the players to approach these points from different angles, to gain or lose advantage. Cascading situations lead into one-another, a success will better their chances later on. The climax will occur no matter what, it's up to the players how to prepare. But they must act or humanity will end up another bug splatter on Cthulhu's cosmic windshield.